Graffiti Art and a Bleeding Heart
by Lesprit-de-escalier
Summary: Weiss Schnee is late to class because she insisted on getting coffee. When she tries to take a shortcut through an alleyway, she stumbles upon a beautiful blonde, someone who she'd never think she'd associate with. Ever. Graffiti artist!Yang, and Freezerburn!
1. The Tagger

It was a brisk autumn morning in Vale, the air still chilly from the night before. The sky was still darkened by clouds, but the sun trying to break through. Like most brisk mornings, Weiss Schnee strolled down the street to her favorite coffee shop right before heading to her first lecture of the day. Also like most brisk mornings, the streets were bustling with cars, buses, students and workers, all trying to make their way to their respective posts for the day.

Although it was still autumn, Vale was in the middle of a cold front and so Weiss had to don a white coat with black buttons that stretched down to her thighs, giving it the appearance of a short dress. She preferred to keep her hands free, so she omitted her black gloves, instead opting for a white scarf with black lining. She wore black stockings and white slouched high-heel ankle boots, and her hair was pinned in an off-centered ponytail, as she usually had it. Some people would say her manner of dress pushed.. showy, but given that she really didn't _care_, she wore glamorous clothes as often as she pleased, even to class.

Weiss attended Beacon University, a fairly large public school that was home to tens of thousands of students. This time of the year was busy for the university because of the incoming freshman and their lack of experience with dealing with rush hour, midterms, parties… you name it. Freshman were just a little incompetent during their first semester, but there was always an exception to every rule, and Weiss Schnee was that exception.

Being a Schnee, her expectations were a cut above the rest, her father being an esteemed CEO and all. He was hard on her, like he was with Winter, the eldest Schnee daughter, but it wasn't needless encouragement. Weiss' father could be demanding, manipulative, harsh and.. well, a little scary. But, he cared for his daughters and simply wanted them to do well in life, to grow up worthy of the Schnee name. So, Weiss was naturally inclined to succeed and excel in all that she did.

That being said, it wasn't like Weiss had super-human powers, as much as she wished she did. It was an early morning, 7:20 AM to be exact, and despite her seemingly royal blood and well-known aptitude to match her well-known _attitude_, Weiss Schnee was most certainly _not_ a morning person. She needed her caffeine, and she needed it now. Nothing would get in her way.

'_It's been several weeks since the start of the new semester, one would think these bumbling idiots could properly find their way around by now,' _she thought sharply, studying two clearly new students pouring over a campus map, apparently still very much lost about where their classes were.

Weiss eventually passed the pair of students up, dipping down onto the street and quickly stepping back onto the sidewalk, as if to show off to the students that she knew where she was going. Sure, she was just going to get coffee. But Weiss really liked the feeling she got when she knew people were looking at her with awe.

Along her stroll, she always had to pass by a couple of buildings that were a little older, certainly not part of the recent infrastructure plans for Vale that had begun a few years ago. These buildings were cracked, crumbling at certain points, their red bricked exterior screaming 'retro' and lined up with other buildings perfectly to make for rather dark alleyways. Some of the city's homeless population made their homes in these alleys, usually grouping together to form some small community. Vale's homeless population was mostly but not exclusively, faunus. The faunus had long since been subject to racial bigotry and discrimination for as long as Weiss could remember, and she knew very well that her father used to be a part of such treatment, using the faunus as cheap labor and forced them to work in conditions simply unspeakable. Those days were over, however, and Weiss was glad for this; she had hoped that her father would change his ways before she took over the company, and although he does hold some prejudice, it isn't nearly as bad as it used to be.

Sometimes Weiss saw parts of these buildings with fresh white paint over it, sometimes in multiple coats and in multiple spots. She knew that these spots were the city's attempt at thwarting an ongoing practice by certain thugs and ruffians running rampant in the city, and that practice was the all-too familiar graffiti writing.

Weiss technically knew what graffiti was, having written a small report on them as well as gang movements throughout Vale, but it was a detached report, not really anything that warranted her attention or memory. She knew relatively well which phrases belonged to which gangs. Sometimes the graffiti wasn't writing, but an image instead, a drawing to depict a story or an event; or maybe it was just a silly drawing, Weiss really didn't know, and she really could not care less. She thought the act itself was foolish and did not tolerate it; though she couldn't really tolerate the blaring white paint against the dull red bricks either, like seriously, they could have matched the paint or something. Yeesh.

She decided to think nothing more of the wall, when she caught a glimpse of something very… yellow. There was a part of the graffiti that hadn't been covered up, probably due to whatever lazy city-worker was assigned to patch up the wall. Peeking out from the white paint was some sort of yellow, maybe golden dragon head. Its exquisite lines were bold and the shimmering yellow paint looked fresh. Weiss couldn't tell if it was the image was officially painted on the building or if that was graffiti too. She paused her journey for a second to stare a little longer at the peeking dragon, finding its colors almost too vibrant to pass up. Huh. Perhaps it was the building's old logo.

Furrowing her brow, Weiss shrugged and continued on her way.

Cars were honking loudly and incessantly, and Weiss did not have the patience to deal with the morning commute noise beside her any longer, so she felt a wave of relief set over her when she finally got to pull open the door to _The Lucky Gambol_. The place was run by her friend's family. Actually, it was really just run by her friend's aunt as she was her only living relative, but her friend did work there, and she knew Weiss' order by heart. Her father objected her visiting the establishment at first, seeing as how it was run by Faunus, but over time he grew to care less and eventually quit hounding Weiss about "maintaining her appearance as a member of the upper class."

_The Lucky Gambol_ was certainly a unique 24/7 shop, home to numerous pool tables and a full bar that was jam-packed on the weekends. It actually had a second room, and offshoot from the main hall, and this room had its own entrance from the outside as well as the entrance from inside the billiards room. This room was most popular on weekday mornings, serving a variety of coffee and teas at affordable prices, making it an extremely popular go-to spot for late-night study sessions and the unfortunate early-morning lecture student. Since it _did_ get rowdy at the bar, the entrance was actually sealable, a soundproof door blocking out most if not all of the noise so as not to interfere with anyone's studying. The atmosphere of the entire floor was almost akin to a kind of tasteful saloon, home to a few neon lights and antique furniture, misplaced second-hand chandeliers and dark oak barstools. It was actually a pretty nice place if you looked at it from the right angle. It was kept clean under an iron-fist, and it was fully-staffed most of the time because it did so well, being a coffee shop bar mix-in.

Today, Weiss came in through the entrance from the street, right into the long line for coffee.

Weiss rolled her eyes. _'Of course there's already a line… At this rate, I might actually be late to lecture. Not that I actually need to be on time today, we're just reviewing the material for the midterm, and I've already done that. Will attendance be taken? Probably not, there's at least five-hundred students in this lecture this semester…' _

As Weiss was mentally going through her backlog of notes for school, she'd already made it to the front of the line.

Manning the register was her very close friend, Blake. Her cat ears twitched in pleasure as she caught sight of Weiss; she'd already known she was here the minute she came in, so she quickly prepared her drink before she got to the front of the line.

"Tired of morning lectures?" Blake asked the heiress, ringing her up for a small coffee even though she'd prepared her a large.

"What I'm tired of is being stuck walking behind people that don't know where they're going," Weiss replied, handing over the correct change, but not before leaving a large tip in the tip jar and mouthing a silent "thank you" to Blake. She took her coffee in hand, "White mocha?"

"Of course," Blake told her proudly, flashing a small smile. "Now get out of here or you'll be late."

Weiss turned to the door, but stopped for a moment to look over her shoulder, "I'll see you after class?" Blake simply nodded to her while she took the next customer's order, trying to kill the line before it stretched out the door.

So, there she was, Miss Weiss Schnee, heading to class and cutting it real close with time. She silently chastised herself for not walking a little quicker, even leaving just a little earlier. She was about to hit a 4-way, when she was stopped by construction work. Uh oh.

'_Oh, no way. You've got to be kidding me.' _Weiss walked up to one of the workers behind the yellow caution tape and orange traffic cones and asked him, "Excuse me good sir, may I please cut through here?"

"No can do little missy, too dangerous right now. Yer gonna have ta use the detour, right over there," the construction worker point to the orange sign directing traffic to the right.

"I have class in 10 minutes, I won't be in the way!" Weiss pleaded, trying to sound as sincere as possible. In truth, she was just getting really annoyed.

"And I have to make sure people are safe, or my boss'll have my head. Answer's no." The worker walked back to his post and continued his labor, as Weiss huffed and stomped off to the detour.

"Oooh, the nerve. It's just one street, it's not like I was planning on falling into any holes. Honestly. I'm going to be late because of this, uuughhh," Weiss spoke, looking down at her coffee. As she hurried down the street, an alleyway caught her eye; one that looked like it cut straight through to the university in a much shorter time than the detour would.

She stood there, staring at the alleyway, its dingy atmosphere leaking through to the open streets. It was narrow, almost too narrow for any one person to fit through. However, Weiss was a thin gal, she thought she'd have no trouble squeezing by without dirtying herself. It looked dark, but light poured out at the end, indicating that it must have lead somewhere open.

'_Uhh…'_

Weiss looked both ways to make sure no one was watching her, and she shot down the alleyway in hopes of making it to class, _relatively_ on time.

"Ew, ew! Disgusting," she complained, accidentally touching something very damp on the walls, "Don't the city workers clean the alleyways too? Ugh, I suppose not, they're spending all their time cleaning up that silly graffiti and constructing the new planned buildings," Weiss said quietly, eyeing the cracks and crumblings of the bricks in the alley, watching her feet so she wouldn't step on a rat or anything.

Closer and closer she inched toward the end of the alley, a wave of relief washed over her as stepped out into the open air, and—

"What is…"

Weiss took one look around her, and she realized she'd been enclosed by brick walls, covered from head to toe in various graffiti. All sorts, ranging from simple black scribbles to fairly elaborate drawings and phrases, all types of colors and patterns and lines. There wasn't much of the brick wall left to see, even on all four walls. The lot she stood in was open, seemingly abandoned by the city, covered in grass and pieces of chain-link fence all over the place. There was a small swing set near the center, which probably meant the lot used to be a playground at some point. Perhaps when Vale was first built?

Weiss stood in the middle of the lot, staring at the walls before her. She was trying to read some of the words, but she couldn't quite make them out. "Who wrote all this? Do they even say anything? This illegible scrawl has absolutely no business being on city property," Weiss checked the time on her wristwatch briefly, "Crap, I'm really late."

The heiress strode through the lot, searching for another way out before spotting a tell-tale sign of Beacon University.

"Oh, there's the bridge! I knew this path lead to the school."

A massive walkway was constructed recently, and it connected Beacon University to the main street in an impressive display of concrete, wood and lights. This particular bridge was so incredible that it was considered a landmark in Vale. Underneath the hanging overpass were two of Vale's busiest highways, where cars constantly roared through, and Vale River right smack dab in between.

All that was fine, but Weiss was stuck in this little lot, and she was _not_ about to go back through the alleyway she came from. Tapping her heel in frustration, she looked around the lot once more, hoping to catch a glimpse of an opening. What she saw instead, was a person. A person.. hanging from the edge of a building… a person with really, really long blonde hair.

Weiss stopped her scan of the area and focused on this person. She narrowed her eyes and mentally scoffed, _'Ah, just what I needed. A hooligan, hanging from the side of the building, and—is she the one doing all this?!'_

Weiss approached the character cautiously. Upon nearing the figure, Weiss could make out the faint hiss of a spray can, starting and stopping in increments. The figure in question was a woman, as Weiss could now make out, hanging by her left arm off the edge of the building, her white, beat-up basketball shoes holding steadfast on the brick-face. She had on a pair of black sweats, tapered at the calf and baggy around the thighs, with two diagonal zippers on each pant leg. She wore them with a sag, her white boxers peeking up from the pants. She also had on a yellow crop-top, probably cut up from a yellow t-shirt once before, her bare midriff and a very short, thin black tube top showing just beneath it. Her hair was tied up, an impressive golden mane cascading down her arched back, and a half-face respirator colored yellow and black was wrapped around her jaw, obscuring Weiss' view on anything about her features.

In her right hand, she was spray-painting the wall, something Weiss couldn't decipher at first glance. It wasn't anything impressive, it was just some black lines that looped and connected here and there.

Weiss figured it'd be best to leave the hooligan alone after she'd asked for directions, so she tried to make it quick. Looking up to the girl, she called out, "Excuse me."

*hissss, hissss*

A continuous symphony of sprays rang out, and Weiss was ignored.

Her brow twitching, she called once more, "Hello there, excuse me!"

. . .

. . .

*hisss, hiss, hissssss*

Weiss snapped.

"_EXCUSE ME, WILL YOU PLEASE STOP SPRAYING AND PAY ATTENTION WHEN SOMEONE IS ADDRESSING YOU, YOU UNCIVIL MONGREL?!"_

The spray-can clattered to the cement not long after that. Weiss opened the eyes she'd screwed shut in her outburst and peeked up at the girl. Her face, or, well, her eyes at least, were stunned as she stared back at Weiss. Her eyes were a bright amethyst color, eyes unlike any Weiss had ever seen before. Finally, the girl removed her respirator and stuffed the straps into her boxer bands before hopping off the wall—nearly twenty feet high—onto the ground.

She landed with both feet, moving with the impact to avoid injury. She stood up and stretched her back before resting one hand on her hip, contrapposto. "Didn't think a cute little thing like you could be so loud!"

She wore a grin, almost mockingly so. The girl had a strong looking face, and up close.. well, she was a real looker.

"You… Did you hear me that entire time?" The heiress questioned, her eyes narrow.

The blonde girl shrugged, "Yeah, why?"

Weiss was fuming. "Then _why_ didn't you answer me?!"

"Whoa whoa, chiiiill! I just wanted to have a little fun with you, I didn't think you'd get so mad, princess," the girl threw up her hands in defense and backed up, picking up her spray-can in the process.

"_Don't _call me that, you fiend. What were you even doing up there in the first place? Destroying city property? Vandalizing the buildings? Leave it to heathens such as yourself for making Vale look so downtrodden and unsightly," Weiss scolded, grasping her coffee with both hands and taking another disdainful look around the lot.

The girl let the hand on her hip hang free at this, toss the can back and forth between both hands, "If you find this place so 'unsightly,' then what brings you here?" She gave Weiss a once-over, "You sure don't look like the tagging type," the grin never once leaving her face.

Weiss snapped her head back to the girl, "Tagging? Is _that_ what you call this?" She turned to look at the walls again, baffled at how this mess could have anything resembling a word.

The blonde laughed at her confusion, "Oh, what a sheltered life you lead." The girl stuffed the spray-can into her boxers in a similar fashion as the respirator. She moved to the side of Weiss and started to back up slowly, causing some distress for our dear Weiss.

"What are you doing…? Hey, n—oh, oh my goodness!"

Weiss couldn't contain her gasps when the girl ran toward the wall at full-speed, ran up along the bricks for a few feet and grabbed the ledge of the building once again, at the spot she'd been where Weiss had discovered her.

"H-How did you do that?!"

The mysterious girl pulled herself onto the roof of the building and turned around to look down at Weiss, "I'm almost allll muscle, cutie. Wanna feel?" She ran a hand over her biceps to tease her, which certainly worked.

"Wh—NO! _Ohh,_ you perverted street-rat, just—just tell me how to get out of here!" Weiss' words said 'no' but her blush said 'oohhh yessss.'

The blonde looked up for a moment, a finger on her chin as if to suggest she was actually thinking about Weiss' request. "Nah."

"Ex_cuse _me?!"

"You seem like a smart gal, you'll be fine. See ya, snowflake!" With that, the blonde walked off, out of view.

"Hey, wait! Don't walk away when I'm talking to—she's gone. Right. Of course." Weiss rolled her eyes, recounting the scene in her head.

Weiss had met some strange people in her life, most of them the creepy business partners of her father, and their creepy sons and daughters as well, begging like dogs to become a part of the Schnee name; a part of that family business. In fact, there weren't many people in Vale who didn't know who Weiss was. She was, in short, a bit of a celebrity. But this girl, this.. this riffraff, had no clue as to who she was. It was actually sort of refreshing. Apart from the fact that she'd been tasteless and invasive, calling her undesirable nicknames and suggesting she take part in touching her admittedly well-muscled arms. And abs. Weiss coughed a little as she remembered the rest of her body.

"If I _ever_ see that girl again, I'll have some words for her. Now, to find my way out…" Looking around the lot again, it was clear that there _was_ no other way out. Not from what she could see. She'd just have to suck it up and go back the way she came in.

After grumbling and trying desperately not to admit she was wrong, Weiss finally started back to the narrow alleyway. But before she could get very far, she was struck by curiosity.

Taking a sip of her lukewarm coffee, she flit her eyes back and forth at the ground, as if cursing herself for even being curious about that girl in the first place. She turned and took a few steps toward the wall which she'd hung off of, trying to get a look at what she was writing.

She could see in fresh yellow paint, a few letters were written, in a surprisingly likeable font. If it was a font, perhaps it was just the girl's writing style. Squinting her eyes a little more, she could make out the letters 'Y' and 'A,' followed by a few more.

"Y… A… N… G…? Yang?"

The Schnee heiress tilted her head at the name. If that really _was _a name at all.

In a daze, staring at the name, Weiss was brought back to reality by the sudden remembrance of the fact that she'd been trying to get to class, and she checked her watch one more time...

"Dammit, she MADE ME LATE!"

* * *

><p><strong>an: **Ah.. yes... here I am starting another thing...

Street-artist Yang makes her appearance! The thought came to me when I was thinking of things to write for an original story. But of course, when I was thinking about the dynamic between a free spirit tagger and an uppity, high class gal.. Well, who better fits the bill other than Freezerburn?

I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter, I tried to make it humorous, but, dunno if it worked out. But anyway. Hope y'all like it!


	2. The Underground

It was around noon when Weiss was finally released from class. She had three classes lined up back to back, so she never really had breaks. This didn't bother her usually, because she liked to get things done early so she wouldn't have to worry about them later on.

Unfortunately, today was one of those days where she wished she'd just stayed home altogether. Her early morning encounter and the ramifications of said encounter had earned her a slightly embarrassing "walk of shame" when she entered her first class right in the middle of a quiz, and the subsequent annoyance that lingered over her head the day thereafter.

First to the door, she all but slammed it open, scaring the students who were waiting outside the lecture hall to attend their class next. She slung her bag over her shoulder and checked her phone, typing in whatever reply she'd left for the end of class. Weiss would usually meet Blake after their lectures since they got out around the same time, so she headed towards the center of campus, to the large, dynamic fountain. Students often had lunch around this area, and it also served as a pseudo-date spot for when you meet someone cute and you wanna sorta hang with them before class.

Blake was already waiting for Weiss, one leg propped over the other, phone in hand. She of course had heard Weiss coming and picked her head up to greet her.

"So, explain the text you sent me in the middle of class that reads, 'I AM LATE.' I mean, it was funny, but did you have to let me know?" The Faunus started, standing up to meet her companion.

Weiss let out a sigh, recounting the tiring events, "I tried to take a shortcut through an alley, and—"

"Alley? _You?_" Blake interrupted, not believing that _the_ Weiss Schnee would set foot anywhere near one of Vale's alleyways.

"I know, right?! Freaking crazy. Anyway. I took a shortcut, got a little.. turned around, and ran into an insufferable idiot that would not tell me how to get out of the place. She's the reason I was late, and it's been bothering me the entire day!"

"It's unlike you to let someone get to you like that. What sort of person was she?"

The pair crossed campus, dodging students left and right. It was primetime right now, the time when most of the university had class, and the time when everyone was trying to get something to eat. Rolling her eyes at the crowding, Weiss continued.

"I don't even know the answer to that question. What she _was_ doing, was spray-painting a wall, hanging off the roof of the building. It was insane."

Blake's ears twitched slightly, "Was she now? That's.. interesting."

"If I never see that heathen again, it will be too soon, Blake. Too fucking soon," Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

Blake tugged on Weiss' coat sleeve to comfort her, "Hey, it was a one-time thing, right? Just try not to take so many shortcuts this semester. Either that, or don't get coffee when you know you might be late, stupid."

Weiss looked at Blake with a stoic face, but couldn't hold it together once she saw the raven-haired girl smile at her. She playfully pushed Blake's shoulder with a laugh, and their hands brushed together briefly. Blake looked away and pretended to check her phone, suddenly feeling like she stepped over some imaginary line.

Weiss noticed this, but didn't press. She simply took out her phone as well, to lighten the air around them. "Would you like to grab dinner later on? Before your night shift, that is."

"What? Oh, I'd.. I'm sorry, I already promised dinner with extended family," Blake let this piece of information out reluctantly, internally cursing herself for her plans.

"Extended family?" Weiss questioned, tilting her head slightly. Blake always thought it was sort of cute the way she did that. "I wasn't aware you had any. Have I met them before?"

"No, you haven't, but I'd like for you to meet them someday. Today's just not that day. I believe we're celebrating a special occasion, I just can't think of it off the top of my head," Blake pressed the back of her hand to her eyes for a few moments before suggesting to Weiss, "Do you think we could do dinner another night? Or, I could… you know, make you dinner instead."

"I finally get to taste some of your cooking? Blake Belladonna is offering to cook _me_ a meal?" Weiss pressed her fingers to her chest and fluttered her eyes, "How could I possibly refuse?"

"Hopefully my skills are up to par with your refined palate. But hey, I'll text you, yeah? I've got to get going," Blake said, tucking stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"No problem. I'll just go home and try and compile some notes from today. Maybe start on those discussion boards in a bit," Weiss turned to take her route home, before turning back to Blake for a moment, "Have fun with your dinner tonight."

A sincere smile later, both women were on their way.

Now, it wasn't that Weiss _wasn't _trying to go home and get some studying done. Really, she was. The problem here was that the route she took home had her pass the very same area that caused her trouble earlier this morning.

Walking along the bridge, she eyed the red bricked wall and the dingy rooftops where she knew that riffraff had laid claim to that poor, unsuspecting wall. She tried not to make eye contact with the edges of the roof, the stray antennae that were crooked in various spots, and the occasional power generator that probably didn't work anymore. The more she looked away, the more she ended up looking back. It was infuriating, the way a few mere buildings taunted her!

Her heels clacked along the concrete, eager to get to her destination before curiosity gets.. Gets the better… The better of…

'_Ooohhh! I can't stand this.'_

She'd finally let herself succumb to her thoughts, and she made her way back to that little alleyway she'd first come across when her coffee was still hot. Coming back to the passage, nothing had changed of course, and the journey to the empty lot was still as messy. Weiss wasn't even sure why she'd been so compelled to come back and check on the place. Perhaps she'd really just wanted to give that girl, if she was there again, a piece of her mind. Some sort of reprimand for making her late to her class that morning. She did have her honor to uphold, after all.

After squeezing through the passage and into the grassy patches, Weiss looked around quickly while brushing herself off.

Her eyes scanned the premises, and something fast and brown caught her eye. Near the abandoned swing-set, she could have sworn she'd just seen someone disappear beneath the ground!

"Hey, wait!" Weiss called after the figure, not even really sure it was a person to begin with. Cautiously, she walked over to the spot where the flash of brown had vanished, and what she found piqued her interest immensely.

Right beneath the swings was a type of metal covering, perhaps something akin to a manhole. It looked like it lead right into the sewer, so Weiss was deeply confused as to why a person(?) would be crazy enough to venture down there.

Weiss shook her head slowly as she checked around for any more people in the area. "Why must I be subject to live in a city that has such a high number of weirdos and so much odd behavior?" She says that as disclaimer, but she was very close to doing something she'd never live down.

Weiss Schnee paced back and forth. Forth and back. Across the grassy patches, around the swing-set, even along the chain link fence, she paced. She wanted to leave. She so desperately wanted to leave, go home, make a fresh pot of coffee, and get some work done.

But no! This strange little piece of land, with this strange little metal hole had presented themselves to her, and far be it from her to leave such things uninspected. There _had_ to have been some sort of city regulation on this, she told herself as she paced. There was no _way_ the authorities didn't know about all this, she half-convinced herself.

"I mean, is it really any of my business? Despite the fact that I should actually know what's going on in Vale, all things considering, do the reaches of the underground truly matter to one such as myself?!" The company heiress was in a dilemma. To venture, or not to venture. _That, _was the million dollar question.

… _Shrreeng, clang. _The screech of metal could be heard echoing in the lot as Weiss dragged the cover over to the ground, revealing a large, dark hole beneath.

"I can't believe I'm doing this. Ew, ew! Oh, what is this, a ladder? Great. At least some shred of decency remains…" Her voice started to reverberate as Weiss descended into the darkness, not knowing what compelled her to make the journey.

Further and further the ladder went, until finally, the company heiress touched the floor of the tunnel with a tentative foot.

The air was cool and the atmosphere was dingy, though it wasn't wet or slimy like Weiss had originally expected. _Thank goodness_ it wasn't wet or slimy.

"… Hello? Are there any people down here?" She called out aimlessly, waiting for a reply. None came, and so she started down the darkened tunnel. Fortunately there was light spilling out at the far end, so she was completely blinded. Upon approaching the light, Weiss started to notice something about the walls. As she went deeper, the walls of the tunnel increased with the amount of graffiti on them, ranging from small scrawls of the hand to larger tags, colored and outlined.

"_What_ is going on in this place?!" Her confusion was growing quickly, though her pace remained steady. She simply walked toward the light at the end, at which she realized was actually a T-intersection, rather than an opening. Both sides had light pouring from them, and she could hear some noise. Was it.. talking? Movement? Whatever it was, Weiss had tried her best not to seem as nervous as she really was.

She decided to take a left turn at the intersection, and she found herself in another small series of tunnels and dead ends. A few more moments of walking, and our company heiress finally stumbles upon something that looks like it could be a way out. Before Weiss was a large, vault-looking door. Its metallic surface shone brilliantly as rays of light leaked through the cracks in the opening.

"I'm guessing this is a way out," she stepped toward the circular door and grasped its handle firmly, "and with this, I'll.. I'll be.. urgh.. I-I'll be on my—" Weiss tugged and tugged, but the door would not budge. She released the door handle with annoyance and stepped back to look at the door in full. She huffed and folded her arms, "Are you kidding me? Why even have this useless _fake_ door here?!"

"I knew I'd see you down here, cutie pie," a woman's smooth voice rang out from behind Weiss.

She spun around to face the same blonde-haired tagger from earlier this morning, leaning one arm on the edge of the tunnel, and one hand on her hip.

Weiss scoffed and took a defensive pose, "I should have known it was you that lured me down here. Is this all part of some type of plan to ruin my day entirely? Making me late this morning wasn't satisfactory enough for you?"

The girl was slightly taken aback, but more intrigued than anything else, "Whoa, slow down, Klondike bar—"

"Klondike b—?!"

"Now I didn't hatch any sort of scheme to get you down here, drug you and have my way with you if that's what you were thinking," the blonde pushed past Weiss to inspect the vault door, checking the sides to see if there were any breaches, "I mean you're cute and all, but c'mon."

"You literally just said you'd known you would have seen me down here. If that doesn't spell 'planned' then I don't know what does," Weiss took to the entrance of the small tunnel, effectively switching their places.

"That's because I knew you were curious. Just sort of thought you'd wander in one day… Why exactly are you here?"

"There was a person coming down here! So naturally, I had to find out what was going on, of course," Weiss eyed the girl suspiciously before curtly asking, "Are you smuggling drugs?"

"Only ecstasy, I'm afraid," the tagger joked as she turned to Weiss and proceeded to herd her in the direction of the other tunnel, "But now that you're here, I'll have ya meet the gang!"

She couldn't help but try and hold her ground as the insistent girl used her taller frame to push Weiss along the sewers, "W-Wait a minute, you're really smuggling down here?! I don't want to meet any _gang_, get away from me!"

More of Weiss' objections could be heard further down the sewers as the mysterious girl led her to the other side of the T-intersection from earlier. Weiss eventually ceased her struggle, instead composing herself and walking along the girl properly, feeling uneasy as they approached even more noise. She figured that it might be best to stick close to someone who actually knew what was down here. Well, not close. More like as far away as the tunnel would let her be.

A few more turns here and there, and eventually a small crowd of people appeared before the two, leaning against the sewer walls, chatting amongst each other. Weiss' brow furrowed at this, trying to fathom how there could possibly be an actual number of people, spending their actual time down here.

The blonde turned to her and whispered, "Don't be so nervous when we walk past. They can tease, but they're all harmless," she turned to the small group of people as they approached, "Hey guys!"

A chorus of "Hey"s and "What's up, Yang?"s rang out through the tunnels, all of them in a rather good mood.

"Yang, who's the cutie?!"

"Ohh, ya girl brought _another_ one down here, didn't she?"

"Shiiiiit girl, I'd like a piece a that when you're done"

Before Weiss could retaliate politely, as she usually does, a protective arm made itself known in the space in front of her, and she heard the tagger spit out, "Aye aye, none of that. You bastards don't know when to control yourselves, don't you?"

Though slightly offended by the crude remarks of the tunnel's hosts, Weiss managed to choke down the list of comebacks she had at the ready, and traded them in for a more arbitrary comment, "So your name _is _Yang."

"Sure is. But you already knew that, didn't you?" Yang met her with a knowing look.

Weiss looked away disgruntled. "What exactly _is _this place? Why are there people down here? Why do they insist on treating me like I'm a piece of meat?!"

"You ask a lot of questions for someone who seems like a know-it-all."

"Wh—I am _NOT_ a—oooh, you are such an annoyance," The heiress brought her hands up to her arms and rubbed them along her coat sleeves, "I just want to know the reasoning behind this place, and all of you people."

"Should there be a reason? Dairy Queen, I get that you're all proper and everything, and stuff's gotta have a 'why' and a 'how,' but this sort of place isn't like that. It's just a community that's.. open to whoever's lucky enough to find it!"

"I do have a name, you know. It's Weiss."

The tagger eyed the heiress with a sly smile, "I know your name."

Weiss flicked her head to meet the girl's face, "Seriously?! And you just let me believe you didn't, this whole time?! How do you even know it?"

"Like I said before, I just wanted to have a little fun with ya. There aren't too many with eyes and ears that don't know of the famous Schnee family."

Weiss was taken aback by the surprising bit of information. Her family's name reached even the depths of these rugged, cement walls.

The pair walked further down the tunnel, which was brilliantly decorated with art by this point, something Weiss silently appreciated, as much as it pained her to do so. Nearing the end of this route, Weiss noticed that the next area looked like it could be another room. She could hear plenty of voices at this point. Right at the opening to the area, there was a Faunus girl with long brown hair and bunny ears squatting down, checking her phone… Weiss was baffled at this, how could there be reception in a sewer? Vale was home to a large network of underground travel systems, but the signal was solely dedicated to these facilities alone. She decided not to say anything about it just yet.

Yang walked up to the brown-haired girl, who immediately stood at the sight of her white basketball shoes. "You seen my sister around?"

The Faunus folded her arms in front of her, the leather on her jacket tightening at the force. She smirked before answering, "She's in The Cozy. Hiding from _you._"

Yang brought her head up to the entrance of room and shook her head a little, "Of course she is." She started toward the center of the room immediately, and Weiss tried to follow closely behind, not wanting to be left to her own devices in this sort of environment.

What Weiss saw almost stopped her dead in her tracks. The area they were now in was a large room with multiple entrances and exits, none of which Weiss could distinguish by herself. Past this room, where Yang was storming into, was an even bigger underground space. Two gigantic staircases led from the upper level they were at, down to a large platform that gave way to various bridges, stairways and walkways that stretched out over an almost unbelievably expansive amount of square feet. The walls were absolutely covered in more graffiti, not much to her surprise at this point. There were a lot more people, dressed from head to toe in similar clothing as Yang was, some of them donning the same types of respirators on their hips, around their necks, or even slung over their shoulders. On every other platform or so, there were what looked like stalls, the type you would see at a festival, or a street-fair. Their wares varied, from food to little trinkets, clothes, and even paints and the tools that go with it. It was as if there was a bartering business going on down here, and Weiss was trying to wrap her head around it.

"What… What _is _all this?!" She yelled out after Yang, who was sliding down one of the railings to a central plaza, which was home to… were.. were those.. pillows?

The plaza had a large pit of what seemed to be made up of entirely pillows. Pillows with various sizes and colors, all looking quite comfy. Surrounding this pit was a ragtag circle of sofas and couches, and people made it no secret that they quite enjoyed lounging on them amongst the bustling of the people just levels above them.

Yang hopped off the railing and made her way to the pillows and couches, stopping right before the pile of cushiony goodness. She folded her arms over her chest and waited.

A head of brown and red hair popped out of the pillow pile, but it was facing the couches. A cheery but urgent voice could be heard from the girl, "Have you guys seen her yet?!"

The people on the couches simply giggled and flit their eyes to Yang, hinting for the girl to turn around. The girl in the pillows froze momentarily before turning her head slowly to meet Yang's gaze. Weiss could see that the girl had a pale complexion, a soft face, in stark contrast of many of the people she's already seen down here. She was definitely cute. Almost _too_ cute for the sewers.

"Heh heh… Hiya, sis. What brings you here…?" The apprehension in her voice made her guilt all too noticeable.

Yang's stance stayed unchanging, but she tilted her head at her sister, "Ruby, what have I always told everyone about coming down here?"

"To bring you food?"

"The _other_ thing."

Ruby shifted her eyes to a red pillow next to her, "Don't let anyone see you."

Yang smiled and stepped to the side and stretched out an arm to reveal Weiss, standing in a demure stance, though she was now looking around and wondering why she was being displayed. "Guess what you brought down here by accident?"

Ruby's eyes lit up at the arrival of the new guest, and she hopped out of the pillows to greet her, "Hi! I'm Ruby!" She took Weiss' hand and shook it excitedly.

Weiss let her shake her hand for a few moments but slowed the action and retracted her hand to her sides, "I'm Weiss, and it's a pleasure to meet you, but please don't touch me without asking. Is this brute your sister?" _'Oh lord, she's just like a puppy!'_

Ruby glanced to Yang, and back to Weiss, "Yep! She is. How'd you guys meet? Was it really me you saw come down here? Are you the super cute girl she told us about today? You probably are, you're like, really pretty and she doesn't usually mmph—!" Ruby's mouth was sealed by a strong hand before too long.

"Alllllright, enough outta you. Sorry Weiss, Ruby can be a—HEY!" She let go of Ruby's mouth and pushed her into the pile of pillows, but the girl simply fell into them with glee, her tongue sticking out playfully.

"What just happened?" Weiss asked, watching Ruby laugh up a storm.

"The little nerd licked my hand!"

Weiss let out a short laugh, but cleared her throat to regain composure, "One such as yourself should be used to the feeling of moisture on your hand, considering you hang out in a sewer system. Shouldn't any of this.. _all _of this be illegal? And how exactly do you remain undetected?"

Before Weiss could finish her list of questions, she felt a fairly strong slap, right on her behind.

She jolted, "H-Hey! Ex_cuse _me, rude! Come back here _right now_ and apologize to me!"

The guilty party, in the form of a girl with short hair with one colored strand, simply waved Weiss off as she accompanied the brown-haired girl from earlier, "You better apologize to _me_, for having such a nice butt. Can't believe I haven't seen you around before, darling."

Weiss was completely infuriated, and having pushed aside much prejudice to stand even being around this.. this _company_, her patience has completely been ripped to shreds. "I'm leaving." With that, she turned around to leave, but having no idea which way she _could _leave, she paced back and forth before deciding to try the very way she came from.

"Wait, wait a sec!" Yang ran up the stairs after Weiss, matching her quick pace, "Hey, don't let these guys get to you like that. Sure they're, uh.. they're a little rough around the edges, but they mean well!"

Weiss snapped her head to Yang as she tromped through the first large room they'd come through, "Do they?! I'm sorry, I'm sure your prairie-dog life of vandalism and questionable trading practices is great and all, but I think I really need to leave, before I call the police."

Yang stopped Weiss by grabbing her shoulder, though she took her hand away once she saw that deathly stare on the heiress' face right after, "Look, I'll lead you to another exit. It's quicker."

Weiss stared at Yang. She stared daggers at this girl, whom completely ruined their first meeting by being both annoying _and_ making her late, and now she has effectively ruined her evening by consequently letting her sister lure her into this strange, legally malleable existence of people using the city's resources to make a place where they could "hang out." Granted, Weiss was actually the one who was overtaken by curiosity in the first place, but STILL.

… The look on Yang's face said she was legitimately sorry for her people, if you could call them that, and their very apparent lack of manners.

Weiss let out a tired breath. "Fine."

Yang's expression shifted to something more joyful, "Awesome. C'mon."

Yang led her through another tunnel from the upper level, and within minutes of walking, they were at another small ladder. Weiss wasn't sure just how this system of tunnels hadn't already been demolished, or even put to use, but the day had been long, and she decided that she really just did not care right now.

Yang reached up and opened the manhole for Weiss, stepping aside to let her climb up the ladder. Once she was out, Yang propped herself over the opening, "Hey. I know this all must seem really, really weird to you. It's great messing with you, but I definitely didn't want you to feel totally.. corrupted, or whatever," Yang pursed her lips and scratched her cheek, "Sorry, princess."

Weiss wanted to walk away, badly. So dearly did she want nothing more than to forget what she just went through, but this unknown world... this unknown girl intrigued her so much, she almost had no choice but to exaggerate a sigh/groan combination and turn back to Yang, kneeling down to speak with her more.

"It was a lot to take in. I believe I have come across literally one thousand things that I've never even imagined before today, and frankly, I'm surprised I'm as calm as I am. I think I'm in denial, if anything. I am still in a daze, but rest assured, I'm going to go home and scream into my pillow," the sarcasm in her voice was clear.

Yang chuckled, "Today has been pretty weird, even for me. No one has ever come down here without really wanting to, nobody really knew how to react to someone like you."

Weiss made herself more comfortable on the grass, playing with a few of the blades, "So are you some type of wannabe graffiti gang leader, or what? And how did this sewer system escape the city planner's eye? You don't seem like the type to be able to organize a structure like this."

"Ahaha, well, uh, I don't really see myself as their leader, but they all sort of look at me that way, so I try my best to play the part. As for how we scored such a sweet hang-out, one of our gals is super smart and knows the city blueprints and stuff like that. She said it was abandoned and there were no current plans to demolish the tunnels because the plans were destroyed in a fire or something, so no one really knows they still exist. Pretty cool, huh?" Yang studied Weiss' face as she spoke, trying to get just a little bit more of those ice blues into her system before their eventual goodbye.

"Cool isn't quite what I'd call it, but it's.. impressive. Innovative, I suppose," Weiss looked up from the grass to meet Yang's inquisitive lilac eyes, "I should really despise you right now, for making me late to class and for overwhelming my sense of security with a massive sub-level community for runaways and hoodlums."

"We're only hoodlums on the weekends, sweetie." Yang locked her gaze with Weiss' for a few seconds before she was hit with an uncomfortable sensation that she's rarely ever felt in the past: bashfulness. "So, uh, hey listen, if you weren't completely turned off by what you just saw, and if you weren't doing anything tonight, we'd all really like it if you came back for—"

"Who exactly is 'we'? And what in the world would make you believe I want to come back?"

"Damn girl, let me finish, alright? There's a dinner we're having, it's actually the anniversary of when this place was discovered a while back. Sorta silly, but we figured we needed something to unify us. 'We' is the people you just saw. Believe me, they're chill! They just get carried away with newcomers. Whaddya say?"

Now, Weiss Schnee wasn't one to stand for third strikes. Coming back to this little hole in the ground would definitely spell out trouble, and she knew damn well that in some shape or form, she'd be annoyed, insulted, maybe even violated at some time through the night. But some dastardly force in the universe made her look back at this blonde idiot's face, and her crooked smile, and her big, bright eyes, and it had prompted her to forego any sort of common sense and…

Just give in.

Weiss threw a hand up in the air, as if to signify she was releasing everything her family stood for, "Sure, why not."

"Wooo!" Yang celebrated, doing something akin to a little jig, while still hanging over the opening like she was. "Just come on back around seven. Do you need an escort, o honorable one?"

"I'll be fine, thank you very much. I _can _take care of myself, believe it or not." Weiss stood up finally and looked at her watch, which read 3:09. "As splendid as this encounter has been, I've got to go catch up on school work."

"Alright, cutie. I'll see ya tonight," Yang started to retreat back down the hole, but realization hit her before she missed this chance, "Is it cool if I get your number?"

Weiss turned to look at her questioningly, "_You_ have a cellphone?"

"'Course I do! It's 2015. I don't live underground _all _the time."

"Forgive me, your image suggested that you reject most forms of modern electricity, so I could only assume. But… Sure."

Yang slipped a rectangular smartphone out of one of her pockets and handed it to Weiss, who entered her number in after getting past a lock screen of a half-naked woman, but astonishingly enough, a home screen of Yang and Ruby. Weiss handed back the phone, stood up once again and walked a few steps before giving Yang one last piece of advice, "Tell your friends to find some manners before tonight."

"No can do!" With that, the sound of a manhole covering could be heard, and the angry steps of a tired Schnee resounded in the grass.

* * *

><p>"<em>Omfg, Blake. Looks like I have a dinner of my own to attend tonight -_-. I'll tell you all about it another time, today has been crazy, uughhhh skjflds why is life this way"<em>

"_Lol. Okay. Are you getting ready for it right now?"_

"_Mhm. Lmao it's so dUMB. Anyway. Yeah I'll just text you if it goes bad or whatever. You getting ready too?"_

"_Yes, I am. Haha, well just let me know. Maybe I can come rescue you if it all goes to shit."_

_ ":/ Have fun."_

* * *

><p>"<em>ay girl"<em>

_"What do you want?"_

"_wow, you dont even know who this is yet"_

"_Oh I know who it is. Stop bothering me! I'm trying to get ready for your dumb dinner._

"_wtf lmao theres nothing to get ready for? just wear whatever. or wear nothing at all, either will do"_

_"GoodBYE, Yang."_

* * *

><p><strong><em>An:_** After a long absence, it is here. ... ... Again, I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but as long as you guys enjoy it, I've not much to say.

I tried to make the texts something like how the iPhone formats it, but considering FF's restrictions, it looks really ugly and I might just change it later LOL.

Let me know how it is! The whole underground community thing was really.. It... I feel like it wasn't even necessary so I really had reservations about it, but it's cool, right? So we'll just leave it there.


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